Re-conceptualising leadership for effective peacemaking and human security in Africa

Abstract:

This article explores the meaning of peace and human security from the
perspective of the individual — the presumed referent point of security
— and examines responses to armed conflict, a leading source of
insecurity for African peoples. It identifies inherent flaws in approaches
to conflict in Africa and looks to a different field — that of leadership —
for a more effective formula for peacemaking. In the absence of a
framework that can effectively end the cycle of conflict relapse in Africa,
the paper argues that an alternative framing of leadership is needed;
and that alternative leadership approaches to dealing with conflict and
insecurity offer a chance for stable peace and human security. It suggests
that an expanded perspective on leadership provides a basis for
exploring interventions that can potentially alter peacemaking discourses
as well as the terrain in which peacemaking takes place. The article
therefore asks what a focus on the individual as the referent point of
security means if and when viewed from the perspective of a collection
of individuals. In this regard, it presents emerging perspectives from a study of young Africans on leadership programmes in a classroom
setting and attempts to extrapolate them to wider societal settings. It
then explores how a different perspective of leadership might serve as
a facilitator of peace and human security in Africa, drawing examples from past and on-going situations of armed conflict in Africa.